Perfect flying weather greeted those hoping to take advantage of the offer of a recreational flight above Benalla as part of the airport’s open day on Saturday, January 20.
The Benalla Aeroclub ran the event as a way of promoting the resumption of pilot training at the airport.
Club secretary Tony Schneider said it had been three years since the club was able to offer pilot training.
“The Benalla Aeroclub has just formed a partnership with Smartair, which is a flying and training school that operates out of Albury,” he said.
“To satisfy all the regulations, you need a chief flying Instructor (CFI), and now we’ve got one, Richard McClelland.
“He’s the CFI from Smartair.”
Mr Schneider said he had been forced to turn away requests for pilot training for three years.
“I would get at least one inquiry every fortnight,” he said.
“We’ve been having to send them to Shepparton or Albury. So it’s really exciting for us to be able to offer training again.”
Find out more via www.benallaaeroclub.com/
Worth it for the view
When I phoned Benalla Aeroclub secretary Tony Schneider to confirm details for the airport open day, he casually asked if I’d like to go up for a flight.
Completely forgetting my acrophobia, which is often mislabelled vertigo, I said that sounded like a great idea.
It was only on Saturday morning at the airport, when he introduced me to Aeroclub pilot Marty Jacobson, that I started to question my decision.
However, there was a confident look in Marty’s eyes, and it seemed like I might not get this opportunity again, so I bit the bullet and strapped in.
There was probably about a minute or two once we were in the air I was still uncertain, however it doesn’t take long for the spectacular views to distract from any irrational fears about how you’ll make it back to the ground.
First of all, Marty pointed to the horizon. “Over there is Euroa,” he said.
“And that’s Mansfield.”
Then, my eyes were drawn to the landmarks. I spotted the lake pretty quickly and a spattering of houses in the distance, which I suspect was Baddaginnie.
As we circled back around, we started to make our approach to land, and at such a low altitude, I could even make out people walking over the Benalla-Monash bridge.
The landmarks came thick and fast. There’s Bridge St, that’s the Scouts’ hall. That looks like it might be the hospital.
The next thing you know, Marty is dipping the wing to give a good view of the open day at the airport.
Before I knew it, we were on the ground.
My advice is that even if you are a nervous flyer, it is always worth going up for a flight if given the opportunity.
As for the pilot training, I might even sign up myself.
– Simon Ruppert.